Prevalence of under-nutrition among children and its association with educational and occupational status of mothers in an urban area of Haryana.

R.B. Jain; Brijesh Kumar; Sandeep Sharma; Gerish Atri

Volume : VIII, Issue : III, March - 2019

Prevalence of under-nutrition among children and its association with educational and occupational status of mothers in an urban area of Haryana.

R. B. Jain, Brijesh Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Gerish Atri

Abstract :

Background: Undernutrition refers to a pathological state resulting from a relative or absolute deficiency of one or more essential nutrients. The term undernutrition encompasses wasting, stunting and underweight. As per National Family Health Survey IV (2015–16), prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight among under–five children in India is 38.4%, 21% and 35.7% respectively.

Methods: This cross–sectional study was conducted in an urban area of district Rohtak from July 2016 to June 2017 among 400 children (1–5 years of age) which were randomly selected from 14 anganwadi centers. The anthropometric measurement and nutritional status categorization among children was done using WHO guidelines.

Results: The prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight to be 33.8%, 21.5% and 34.5% respectively. Undernutrition rates were found to be higher in children whose mothers were illiterate and working.

Conclusion: It was revealed in this study that the prevalence of undernutrition was unacceptably high among the children. Every endeavor should be made to combat the undernutrition in children through multi–sectoral and multipronged approach.